


Just Ash and Dust

by DLanaDHZ



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Buddie First Kiss Week 2020, Camping, Fire, First Kiss, Hiking, M/M, Natural Disasters, Near Death Experiences, Wilderness Survival, wildfire - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-06
Updated: 2020-06-06
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:40:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24570931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DLanaDHZ/pseuds/DLanaDHZ
Summary: Buck thought it would be fun to invite Eddie on a hiking trip. If he’d known they’d get trapped in a wildfire, he probably would have opted for the zoo instead.For the Buddie First Kiss Week Day 6 Prompt: Because they think they're going to die
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 279





	Just Ash and Dust

**Author's Note:**

> I made up this hiking trail because I didn’t want to burn a real one.

Lady Ashley National Park was a five hour drive out of Los Angeles. At first Eddie had joked about losing his mind after being stuck with Buck in a car that long, but Buck had promised the drive was worth it. He knew Eddie didn’t mean it anyway. If he did, he never would have agreed to come. Buck had invited Eddie on a weekend trip to Red River Peak almost a month ago, so he’d had plenty of time to call it off. But he didn’t.

Red River Peak was the end destination of an arduous hiking trail. It ended at the edge of a small outcrop on the side of the mountain, at a gorgeous waterfall that dropped over three hundred feet to the valley floor. Only hikers in great physical condition, with at least moderate experience in climbing and steep hikes, were recommended to try it. Luckily, Buck had hiked most trails within driving distance of L.A. He’d even hiked Red River Trail before, but not in years.

They parked Buck’s jeep at the visitor center, in a spot designated for long distance or overnight hikers. The plan was to hike the six-hour trail up, camp at the clearing near the waterfall, and then hike down in the morning. And if they managed to not kill each other or get on each other’s nerves, well then maybe Buck would have the courage to follow through on his plan – the plan to finally tell Eddie how obnoxiously in love with him he was.

There were dozens of people milling about the visitor center. Most, if not all, of them were there to enjoy the valley. Lady Ashley National Park boasted some gorgeous lakefront views, several spots that were regular camping spots for the casual camper, and eight hiking trails of varying lengths and difficulties. Buck had chosen the hardest because people chose it less and he wanted the best view. It was also the trail he’d hiked way back when he’d first moved to LA. He liked Red River Peak.

“I bet you were one of those, right?” Eddie asked and motioned to a group of late teenagers. They were carrying a large cooler between them and a few were hefting big shopping bags full of snacks and toys. There was a lot of laughter and smiling as they made their way down toward one of the easier trails.

Buck snorted. “Eddie, I didn’t even live here when I was their age. But anyway, still no.” He hefted his backpack onto his shoulders. “I got drunk in respectable bars and friends’ parties, thank you very much.”

“Right, of course. Also, you’re anti-litter. I bet that would be a buzz kill for groups like that,” Eddie conceded.

“Exactly. I don’t even want to think about the mess those kids are gonna leave behind.” He motioned for Eddie to follow him and they headed to the opposite side of the parking lot where half of the trail heads began.

The trail started out easy, and they walked and talked for an hour without breaking a sweat. Then they came to the split in the trail where signs designated which trail went which way and the difficulty. Red River Peak had a number 3 beside it, meaning it was the highest difficulty. Buck and Eddie were the only ones to set off in that direction, but that was perfect. Buck didn’t want company.

Half an hour later, the trail got steep, and Eddie squinted through the trees to see where they were headed.

“So when it says Peak in the title, does that mean – “

“Technically it’s only about halfway up the mountain,” Buck said with a happy grin.

Eddie chuckled fondly. “Always gotta be a thrill seeker, huh?”

“It’s got the best views for miles!” Buck insisted. “Plus who wants to do some dinky forest tour? We’re fit and healthy and in the prime of our lives! We gotta push ourselves so we can really enjoy it!”

“Of course,” Eddie agreed, but he sounded a bit like he was teasing. Buck didn’t take it to heart.

They hiked the increasingly steep path and they talked, but not as much. They talked about how long it had been since Buck had hiked this trail, about other trails they both loved, about how Eddie hadn’t had to hike something this steep even when he was in the military. Eventually they came to the spot where the trail turned into a thin path that winded up the side of the cliff. They talked less, focusing on where their feet went and on not knocking their hiking packs against the mountain wall. The path was thinner in some places, jagged in others, and always steep. More than once, they had to scoot sideways to continue. Eddie commented a few times about how much Buck was going to regret it if Eddie managed to fall. He was right, even if he meant it as a threat and not as Buck’s heart breaking.

Finally, finally, Buck declared they were at the top. They had to heft themselves up slightly onto a ledge, but then they could see no other way up. They had reached the plateau of the mountain. The mountain kept going for a long time, but this was the end of their trail. This plateau, carved out of the side of a mountain, with the river running through it – it was like a post card.

There were trees scattered around the area, providing plenty of coverage, but there was a good amount of clearing as well, which let you see the valley below in nearly every direction.

“Welcome to Red River Peak,” Buck said, slipping his pack off and pausing to breathe.

Eddie looked around, taking careful breaths, and then smiled. “You’re right. This is gorgeous.”

The sky was nearing dusk, but there was still plenty of sunshine. They could see far enough to theoretically see the parking lot where they’d left the jeep, but the tree line blocked it from view. For miles in every direction, there was a mass of trees broken up only by the large lake just past the visitor center and a thin line where the river cut through the valley.

Buck watched Eddie take it in. He’d been waiting for this moment the whole hike – the moment Eddie’s face went slack in wonder as he took in the sight of birds flying above the trees and the different shades of green and brown that covered the earth like a blanket. The view was amazing. The sight of Eddie was just as breathtaking.

“Come on,” Buck interrupted softly. “The falls are over here.”

Slowly, Eddie turned from the landscape and followed Buck through the sparse trees to an embankment. The water was quick and loud by the edge of the falls. As the name suggested, the mud along the river was a ruddy red brown. Eddie walked close to the edge and looked down before whistling.

“How far down is that?”

“About three hundred feet, I think,” Buck said, coming to look. “It’s not a straight fall, though. It’s broken up into three shallow pools. See? You can see the first one from here.”

“A hundred-foot drop into a shallow pool? Yeah, we better make camp nowhere near here,” Eddie said, already stepping away.

Buck laughed. “Well I wasn’t exactly planning on cliff diving off the falls. I’m not that crazy.”

By the tree line, Eddie was unloading his pack and detaching his sleeping bag. “Good, because I didn’t bring enough gear if this trip is about near-death experiences.”

Buck pulled off his sleeping bag too and laid it out a few feet from Eddie’s. If they were together, he wouldn’t leave so much space, but they weren’t, so he did. “Nope. My plan was just to monopolize you for forty hours and show you a good time.”

Beside him, Eddie cleared his throat but didn’t respond. He pulled out a bag of apples and a bag of cheese – reusable bags, of course. Seeing that it was food time, Buck pulled out his protein bars – specifically made for hikers to be lightweight and provide the needed energy for long treks. They smiled at each other and shared their food.

“I also brought stuff to make coffee in the morning,” Eddie said and pat his bag. “If you’re interested.”

“Absolutely.” Buck chucked his apple core off into the bushes. When Eddie gave him an unimpressed look, he raised his hands in a shrug. “What? It’s biodegradable! It’s all natural!”

Eddie just rolled his eyes and let the subject drop. Later, he threw his own apple core into the same bush, so Buck was pretty sure he won that debate.

They spent the evening walking the area and exploring. The river was too wide to cross and the water was moving too fast to take a dip. They might be able to stand in it for a short while, but neither wanted to test how long they could resist the current. The only break in the stream was a set of rocks that reached out just a few feet into the river. They took turns climbing out onto the rocks and took pictures of each other to send back to the team. Then they returned to their sleeping bags because they were losing the light.

Without the city streetlights and windows and cars, the stars were super visible. They laid down, half in their sleeping bags, and watched them.

In the dark, Eddie sighed. “I haven’t seen stars like this since Afghanistan,” he said.

Buck swallowed thickly, his chest tightening with worry. “Oh man. I’m sorry. Is it – I mean – Too much?”

Eddie shook his head, but Buck heard it more than saw it. “No, it’s nice. If you had time to stargaze in the field, it meant it was a good night. Don’t worry. I’m not about to start having flashbacks.”

“Oh. Good.” Buck frowned up at the sky. He felt the anxiety leaving him, but the moment had shaken him. He hadn’t thought about how a hike into the wilderness could affect PTSD. Avoiding Eddie’s triggers had never occurred to him… ever. He needed to work on that before he accidentally took Eddie to see fireworks or something without asking.

Fireworks?

Buck turned his head. “Hey, do you hear that?”

There was a low popping sound down in the valley. Buck scrambled to his feet, shortly followed by Eddie. They made their way around the trees until they could see clearly down toward the lake. Someone was setting off low-altitude fireworks. The glow of them could be seen even all the way up the mountain. They got just above the tree-line before exploding into bright stars.

“Those kids,” Eddie said with distaste. “I hope a ranger gets them. That’s a fire hazard, and illegal.”

“If we can hear it up here, I’m sure they can hear it at the visitor center. They’ll send someone over and it’ll be done in minutes,” Buck assured.

“Still, I can’t believe some people. That’s so irresponsible.” Eddie shook his head and sighed in aggravation.

Turning around, Buck let out a little laugh. “So were we when we left our bags in the dark. Come on. I can barely see my hands, much less our sleeping bags.”

Eddie sighed again, but this time it sounded fond. Suddenly, Buck felt his hand snatched up, and Eddie was tugging him back the way they’d come. “This way.”

“What, do you have night vision?” Buck teased. Eddie just laughed, but he walked assuredly and soon they were back at their little camp site.

By the time they had settled back in, the sounds of fireworks had stopped. Buck gave credit to the park rangers, and then the two of them went back to star gazing. Buck had read a book about constellations while in the hospital, and he rambled off facts about them as he pointed them out.

“I don’t know, Buck. I just see stars,” Eddie said.

“What a buzz kill,” Buck said, but he was just teasing.

“I think it’s cool that you know so much, though,” Eddie admitted, loud in the quiet night. “You’ve got a big old brain up in that head – no matter what people say.”

“You know, I want to pretend I’m offended, but I know how I sound most of the time. I don’t blame anyone.” Buck shrugged, though he knew Eddie couldn’t tell. “I’m kind of an idiot when it matters.”

“You come up with some of the best rescue plans,” Eddie countered, and it was nice to hear him defending Buck.

“Yeah, but I mean off a call,” he clarified. He heard Eddie take a breath to respond but cut him off. “You know what? Let’s talk about something else.”

Eddie was quiet for a moment but then Buck heard him shifting in the dark and he said, “Okay.”

So they talked about the stars and about how much Chris would love being able to see them, but he couldn’t hike out into the middle of nowhere. Not this far, at least. Buck knew about an observatory in Los Angeles, but he didn’t know exactly where it was. He promised to look it up when they got back, and Eddie’s thankful response was full of a smile even if Buck couldn’t see it.

Eventually they fell asleep, and Buck thought it had been a very successful first half of a trip. The morning would bring coffee, the hike back, and – if everything went well – Buck’s confession. He had a good feeling about his confession, honestly. It was only hours away.

In the morning, he was woken by Eddie’s hand on his shoulder.

“Buck, get up,” he urged. “I think the valley’s on fire.”

He was up instantly, scrambling to get out of his sleeping bag and tripping once, but Eddie caught him. Once standing, he turned in the direction Eddie was facing and saw the problem at once. In the dim morning light, a large plume of black smoke was rising from the trees.

“Holy shit,” Buck breathed out. “Do you have service? We gotta call 911.”

“I’m on it,” Eddie said confidently and pulled out his phone.

Buck turned and hurried for the river, stripping his shirt in the process. The sun had barely risen, but there was plenty of light to see by. He found the spot by the rocks where the current was slower and dunked his shirt in the water. When he pulled it back over his head, he shivered from the cold, but his comfort wasn’t what was important.

“Yeah, I’m at Lady Ashley National Park and there’s a wildfire in progress,” Eddie was saying behind him. “Point of origin appears to be the campgrounds by Lake Hatchee, but it’s spreading fast… I’m at Red River Peak, but I saw dozens of families headed for the lake yesterday afternoon… Yes, Ma’am. Goodbye.”

“What’d they say?” Buck asked, coming back. Eddie opened his mouth to speak but was caught off guard by Buck’s drenched appearance. Buck rolled his eyes and tugged on his soaking collar. “In case of smoke,” he said. “We won’t exactly be by the river when we climb down.”

“Oh. Good idea.” Eddie cleared his throat. “The operator told me we need to get downhill so if the fire spreads, we don’t get trapped up here. The Department of Forestry and Fire Protection is already dispatched, they’re calling in several fire stations for backup already, and they’re working on getting more.”

“Well let’s get out of here then. We need to get out of its path.” Buck dropped down by his pack and started shoveling the few things he’d left out the night before – like his phone. He didn’t bother rolling up his sleeping bag. It would waste precious time they needed to use getting down the mountain.

Eddie ran off momentarily to do as Buck had done and get his shirt wet, and Buck didn’t have time to admire how good he looked in a skin-tight shirt. They had bigger problems. They hefted their bags up and headed for the little drop in the cliff that led to the path down.

It took them three or four hours to climb up the day before, and they couldn’t shave much off on the way down without straight up jumping to their deaths, but they worked as quickly as possible. After an hour, Buck looked out and couldn’t see the horizon. Everything was a glowing orange forge leading into a wall of black smoke.

“Eddie,” he warned.

“We can make it, Buck. Come on.”

Wildfires were dangerous enough on ground level, but they were even worse on inclines. The fire could move up to twenty miles an hour on the ground and even faster uphill. Buck didn’t understand the physics, but he knew what it meant. They were pretty much screwed.

After another half an hour, the fire wasn’t exactly at the cliff yet, but the smoke was. They brought their shirts up over their noses, but it didn’t stop the smoke. They’d dried off most of the way in the sun. The smoke stung their eyes and Buck started coughing harshly as a fresh gust of wind threw the smoke right into them.

“Change of plans,” Eddie said. “Back to the top!”

“But –“

“No buts! We won’t make it to the ground before this thing reaches the cliff. Our best chance is to get to the clearing up top and try to either wait it out or get air lifted to safety!” Eddie had to shout because the roar of the fire below was getting too close.

He was right, too. If they kept going, they’d likely reach the base at the same time as the fire did. That wasn’t safety. That was suicide. So he nodded and started back to the waterfall.

River or no river, their shirts were wet by the time they got back up – but from sweat, not water. The heat of the flames was intense and they weren’t even in it. The wind was carrying the fire’s heat up the mountainside, which could only mean the fire was at their heels.

Eddie had his phone out as soon as they were back on level ground.

“Hello? My friend and I are trapped at Red River Peak in Lady Ashley National Park… Yes, the wildfire spread too fast. We couldn’t make it down… Yes… Yes… Thank you!” He hung up, but he didn’t immediately explain what happened.

Buck was looking down the mountain. He might not have heard Eddie even if the other had started talking, because his mind was stunned. He’d never been in a fire that spread so fast. He’d never been near a wildfire at all. They were hundreds of feet above it, but he felt no safer than if he’d been on ground level.

The forest had turned into hell.

Fire was everywhere. It sucked up the trees, the paths Buck had meticulously mapped so he knew which one would give him an excuse to extend their hike overnight, and even the river was gone. Logically he knew the river was still there, but all he could see was the hungry, ravenous red and orange flames. The smoke was dense and filling the sky, filling Buck’s lungs. The morning sunlight was struggling to get through the cloud. Buck’s eyes began to sting.

He started coughing again. The smoke was billowing up over the cliff’s edge.

“Buck!” Eddie ripped him away from the edge. “We gotta move!”

He let himself be jerked and dragged back toward the river. The movement jarred him back from his dread. The forest was on fire. They were trapped on Red River Peak, but 911 knew and there were firefighters already working on controlling the blaze. All they had to do was hunker down and wait for rescue or for the fire to move past them and burn out.

And Eddie. Buck thought of Eddie. He had to protect Eddie from the fire. His eyes darted around for anything they could use to protect themselves, but everything was flammable. Everything except –

“The river!” He said as they came up to it. “We gotta get in the water!”

Eddie held firm to his bicep to keep Buck from automatically jumping in. “Are you nuts?! We talked about this! The current is too strong! We’ll get pulled over the falls!”

But Buck was shaking his head. The fire was peaking over the edge of the cliff, eating up the mass of vegetation there. “Remember the rocks? They break the current! We can hide behind them!”

Fire was loud. It was the pop and snap of trees, the desperate cries of birds, the roar of the wind coming off the fire, and somehow it all sounded like a train coming up the mountain. Eddie took a moment to look back at the tongues of fire crawling over the cliff edge then he was pulling Buck to the edge of the river. They dropped their packs without thought or care.

Buck dropped in first. The water was icy cold, but it was preferable to the incredible heat of the fire. He backed up to let Eddie get down too. The river came up to Eddie’s waist, which meant there was no way they could waddle their way to the other side. Too much water. Too much of a current. They’d never make it. But they could hunker down in this calmer spot and hope the small clearing around them kept them safe.

Buck blocked the river from reaching Eddie, like one more rock in the riverbed, and Eddie held onto Buck’s arm to hold him steady. They pressed their backs to the rocks and dug their heels in. The question now was what would give out first – the fire or their stamina?

For a while, they watched the fire. Buck pulled his shirt off, dunked it under water, and then wrapped it around his face like a scarf. He tapped Eddie and motioned to his shirt to get Eddie to do the same, which he did. Buck was glad for the covering – not only because of the smoke but because it hid his wincing. His leg was aching, as if the metal rod inside was freezing over from the rush of cold water. It was a bone deep ache, but maybe it was psychosomatic? His leg had never cared about temperature before. Whatever the cause, it hurt now. Terrible timing, damn it.

When the fire got closer, they lowered themselves more into the water to escape the heat. Wildfires could reach thousands of degrees, Buck remembered morbidly. There was a chance they wouldn’t survive it, even if the fire never touched them. They didn’t have a fire shelter.

“Eddie!” he shouted, pulling down his shirt. His eyes stung terribly, but he refused to close them. “I gotta tell you something!”

Eddie turned from watching the trees burn, from watching their sleeping bags getting sucked up like bad kindling. He lowered his shirt too so Buck could see his full confusion. “What?”

The fire had reached the edge of the tree line and stalked there like a hungry predator looking for a way past a fence. It no longer sounded like a speeding train, but the crackling was still loud. Buck leaned in closer to Eddie.

“You were kinda right yesterday! I did have reckless plans for this trip,” he said. Eddie’s brow knit in confusion, maybe disappointment, but he waited for Buck to continue. “I was gonna ask you on a date when we got down the mountain!”

“What?!” Eddie exclaimed, but his expression was marred by the soot and the concern of the situation. Buck couldn’t gage his reaction properly.

“I’m kind of in love with you!” Buck admitted. He covered a cough with his shirt, his face pinching up with discomfort.

Eddie frowned. “You really felt like now was the best time to tell me?!” he asked. “Does this scream romance to you?”

Buck choked on a laugh. “No, but I wanted you to know!” He pulled his shirt completely away. “Just in case!”

Eddie’s mouth opened. Buck could almost hear the retort of “Nothing bad’s gonna happen” or “We’re going to be fine” or whatever placating platitudes Eddie could come up with. But then he shut his mouth and frowned again.

Finally his face slackened and he said, “I love you too!”

“Really?” Buck asked, a grin breaking over his face.

Eddie rolled his eyes. “No, I just thought a deadly fire was a good time to lie about my feelings!”

Buck laughed, resisted a cough, and then leaned in to kiss Eddie. Soot was falling around them, floating down the river and coating them and the rocks. But Buck was going to know what kissing Eddie was like if it happened to be the last thing he ever did. The best part? Eddie kissed him back.

His grip on Buck’s forearm relaxed and finally released as Eddie brought his hands to Buck’s face instead. Dirty and hot and wet, and still the kiss was awesome. Buck smiled into it and then pulled back so he didn’t cough into Eddie’s face. He saw Eddie’s smile for a moment before it was hidden back behind his shirt. Buck pulled his shirt up too and then they leaned their foreheads together, eyes finally closing to take a break from the hellish air around them.

A new sound broke over the smoke and crackling fire. A whump whump whump whump. They pulled away from each other and looked up as a bright light broke through the smoky air. It was a search and rescue helicopter! They were already starting to lower a harness by the time the two of them looked up.  
  
Buck laughed out loud and dropped his hands from Eddie’s face. Eddie too, dropped his hands, but only to Buck’s shoulders.

“We’re gonna be okay!” Eddie shouted excitedly over the new sound of the rotor blades.

“Hell yeah, we are!” Buck exclaimed and leaned in for another quick kiss. “I love you so damn much, Eddie Diaz!”

Eddie’s mouth opened to reply, but whatever he said was lost. The sediment under Buck’s foot shifted and pain shot up Buck’s bad leg. Then he was under the water, arms flailing for purchase that wouldn’t come. It was like the tsunami all over again, being tossed around in a current he couldn’t fight, except this water wasn’t going inland. It was going out and out and over the ledge and –

He was in the air. He gasped for breath and got smoke.

He was falling.

How to survive going over a waterfall. He had less than a second to remember. Legs firsts. Body tight. Arms over the head and mouth. Go in like a pencil. Was the pool deep enough for that? Was he in the right position? He couldn’t think straight. He couldn’t –

He hit the pool.

He tried to thrash, but he felt like he wasn’t moving. He felt the water, or maybe he didn’t. He was hot, so hot, or maybe he was cold? He tried to remember which way was up, which way was safe, but he was dizzy and he couldn’t get his bearings. He felt like a weight was pushing on his chest and dragging his arms and legs down and he tried to fight it but he couldn’t move. He couldn’t –

When he finally managed to open his eyes, he gasped for breath, expecting water, expecting smoke. He found neither. Instead, he got pure oxygen. He expected black skies and fire and heat. Instead he saw ceiling lights that hurt his eyes and air conditioning that made him shiver. Where was he? The fire – The waterfall – Eddie!

“You’re okay.”

He sucked in another deep, terrified breath. He blinked blearily and searched for the source of the voice. It sounded like –

“Eddie,” he croaked. Yep. Like a frog. What happened to his voice?!

“Hey, take it easy.” Eddie was sitting beside him, smiling tightly. He reached over and pet the hair back from Buck’s face. “You’re okay. We’re okay.”

And he did look okay. Well, he looked like he was covered in ash but his clothes were dry and clean, and there were no visible scratches or wounds on him. Buck reached for him and found his fingers bandaged together. Frowning, he glanced down at himself.

He was in a hospital bed. This was a hospital. His right hand had several bandaged fingers – like at least one might be broken, and his left arm had a bandage taking up most of his forearm which suggested a rather large gash must be hidden underneath it. His whole body sort of ached, but nothing felt super terrible. Maybe he got out of that with just extensive bruising? Except he did have a headache. After a moment’s debate about which arm was safer to move, he lifted his bandaged arm so he could feel his head with free fingers. He had a bandage up there too.

“Do you remember what happened?” Eddie asked. He had taken up Buck’s bad hand and was caressing the back of it near his wrist.

“Fire,” Buck croaked. He remembered it all very clearly, unfortunately. “Um… W-Waterfall?”

His eyes landed on the water cup beside the bed and motioned for it. Eddie helped him remove the oxygen mask over his face and sip the water. Eddie was nodding grimly as Buck resituated his mask.

“Right when the search and rescue team found us, you got swept down river and over the falls,” he explained. “The team got me up into the body and then we went to find you. Luckily, you got caught on the first drop. Doctor says you must have had good form when you hit the water, because you didn’t break anything major – just two fingers on your right hand and one of your toes. Not too bad. You should get full mobility back.”

“And?” Buck urged. There was more. He knew there was.

“And you scared the shit out of me, Buck,” Eddie said, annoyance creeping in. He ran his hand through his hair, messing up his already messy hair. “I know it wasn’t your fault, but damn! You hit your head and you were in and out of consciousness all the way to the hospital and I didn’t know if – No one knew if you’d wake up normal or not.” He sighed and dropped Buck’s hand so he could grip the bed railing tightly. “You gotta stop getting hurt, man. My heart can’t take it. On the job is one thing – we’re paid for danger – but on a camping trip on our day off? It was supposed to be the two of us having fun, alone in the woods, away from the real danger. Qué mierda.”

Despite everything, Buck started to smile. “And?” he asked again.

“And _what_ , Buck?” Eddie said, his voice almost a gasp. He looked pinched, like he didn’t want to think about the events of the last several hours anymore and didn’t understand why Buck kept pushing him to.

“And will you go on an actual date with me now?” Buck asked. He waved his broken hand slightly and rolled his eyes. “I mean, once I’m not a mess anymore, of course.”

All the breath left Eddie in a rush and he covered his face with his hands. For a second, Buck thought Eddie was mad, but then he saw the older man’s shoulders shudder with laughter, though very little sound came out. Eddie was shaking his head, but when his hands fell away he was smiling fondly.

“Evan Buckley, you will always, always, _always_ be a mess,” he said and leaned over the bed. “But yeah. Yeah, I’ll go on a date with you. More than one, if you can believe it.”

“Oh damn. This must be serious,” Buck teased right back.

“Everything about today has been serious,” Eddie said, still dirty, still tired, but also still there with Buck. And that spoke louder than any words. “Next time, let’s try for something that’s like, the opposite of whatever this was. Like let’s – maybe the zoo. Or someplace filled with cotton balls. Or –“

“Oh my God, Eddie. Shut the hell up. You’re embarrassing,” Buck whined, but he couldn’t stop smiling.

“Embarrassing or not, I get to plan the date,” Eddie said with a serious nod.

Buck groaned as if he cared, but he really didn’t. They could absolutely take turns planning dates, and then Eddie would just be shocked on date two when he discovered that Buck liked to go all out and be stupid romantic.

“Okay,” Buck said. “But two things first. One, I need another kiss right this instant.”

Eddie laughed and nodded. Buck pulled his mask away and let Eddie do all the work of leaning over. It was better than the first two kisses because they weren’t about to die, and Buck only grinned broader in the aftermath.

“And two?” Eddie asked, amused.

“Two, go get my doctor so you can go home. You look like you got into a fight with a fireplace and lost.”

“Cabrón,” Eddie muttered fondly. He pressed a kiss to Buck’s forehead that made Buck’s whole body feel warm. “I’ll be back later and then we can hash out the details of where you’re sleeping tonight.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Buck said, relaxing. “Like such a good plan.”

Eddie smiled that warm, fond smile, and Buck knew that no matter what he’d had to go through to get here, it was all worth it. It would always be worth it.


End file.
